Talk:Desert Crossing

Image

If someone was going to add an image to this article the image of Zobral[1] and two of his men from StarTrek.com[2] might be a good choice. -- 109.78.196.125 (talk)

Ratings

I looked to try and find some more information to give context to the ratings but I had already covered the most significant point, that this aired as a double bill. That meant the episode aired at 9pm rather than the usual 8pm and The West Wing was the dominant show in that time slot but still the episode got about the same ratings as usual and came fourth in the ratings for the hour.[3] About the same does not seem interesting or notable, and there doesn't seem to anything in particular worth mentioning, but I mention it here just in case someone else has a better idea or maybe I come back around and take another look at it again later.
The relevant article from Zap2it[4] for that day does not seem to have been saved by the Wayback Machine: "NBC Wins Wednesday; '20/20' Helps ABC to Second" (Thu, May 9, 2002) http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://tv.zap2it.com/news/dailynielsenrankings.html?25794 and Variety[5] noted that Fallen Hero got high ratings but didn't comment on this episode. -- 109.77.200.34 (talk) 23:26, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Makeup and Tattoos

I searched before trying to find information about the makeup design for this episode and found a few random comments and criticisms but I'd really like to know what the Production team were thinking. The chin tattoos they gave the male characters bear some resemblance to the chin tattoos historically worn by native American women, and notably a white woman called Olive Oatman. Alternatively they may have been inspired by Maori tatoos. There also seems to be some tradition of tattooing among Bedouin women.

Using google books to preview the book "Makeup Man: From Rocky to Star Trek" there seems to be some mention of Chakotay but not this episode or Zobral. After Chakotay and 7 seasons of Voyager I'd have a expected a bit more awareness of the cultural sensitivities around tattooing. It seems like an odd design choice and it is a question I'd really like this article to answer properly if possible. -- 109.78.196.125 (talk) 12:01, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

I have strong suspicions that budgetary constraints may also have played a part, as that has been mentioned as a problem in the production of the next episode Two Days and Two Nights. -- 109.78.196.125 (talk)

I think this was the same academic paper I found before, it is written in German and was critical of the tattoos in this episode[6], if I understand the translation correctly it was critical of the gender inappropriate use of the tattoos. -- 109.78.196.125 (talk) 01:45, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

Location

IMDB erroneously claims this episode was filmed in Arizona.[7] Please note that WP:IMDB is not a reliable source. Scott Bakula said this episode was filmed in Southern California [8]. Memory Alpha quotes the call sheet "filmed their scenes on Tuesday 12 March 2002 on location at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area and on Thursday 14 March 2002 at Paramount Stage 8."[9] We cannot use another wiki as a source but there is no reason to believe that Memory Alpha is incorrect. The Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area or Algodones Dunes are in Southern California. Knowing the name of the location I tried to find another source besides Memory Alpha saying the episode was film there but didn't have any luck. Maybe someone can find a better reference eventually and add it to the article. -- 109.79.64.54 (talk) 01:33, 4 May 2022 (UTC)